Typically, a hardware-in-the-loop simulation (NILS) device is a device for simulating a hardware device in real time which is difficult to be numerically modeled due to nonlinearity, etc., in a numerical simulation environment, and is a simulation device for complementing possible deficiencies in a vehicle test.
The HILS device may reduce the number of required vehicle tests, may improve the quality of the tests, and accordingly may drastically reduce a vehicle development time and cost by allowing hardware device experiments to be repeatedly performed in an environment similar to an actual situation.
However, a typical HILS device performs a performance test for an environment control unit (ECU) while performing a virtual drive by driving an actuator and accordingly transmits, to an engine controller, only simple simulation signal information without an actual actuator mounted.
In other words, since the HILS device is not able to monitor whether the actual actuator operates and whether an operating signal thereof is transmitted to a plant model, an engine output and a performance behavior, which are output from the plant model, may be different from those of an actual engine. In addition, since an engine model and a vehicle model are not realized in the plant model, the HILS has limitations in that a vehicle driving cycle and engine characteristic values may not be precisely simulated.
The above information disclosed in this Background section is only for enhancement of understanding of the background of the disclosure and therefore it may contain information that does not form the prior art that is already known in this country to a person of ordinary skill in the art.